Using problematic situations in natural science lessons as a strategy for developing students' cognitive skills

Abstract

     A student's cognitive development refers to the development of the skills that his brain uses for thinking and learning. These skills are: maintaining interest in new things, asking questions and expressing assumptions, concentration of attention, observing objects and events, experimenting, comparing, determining cause and effect, analyzing, interpreting, creating and solving problems. Curiosity and interest are the main driving force and motivator for children. That is why it is important to stimulate and maintain it, which can be the key to increase its motivation, thinking and further development. The paper discusses the result of observing one natural science lesson, where the teacher posed a problem through an interesting fairy tale in the beginning of the lesson, made the children think and led them to solve the problem through discussion.  As the observation of one particular lesson showed us, creating a problematic situation in the lesson is not a scheme that throws the learning process out of its natural bed. Its elementary form is asking a question/problem correctly, which disturbs the students' mental balance and creates an active need for an answer.